[Lingtyp] languages without word level stress

[Ian Maddieson]

It depends on what you mean by “no stress” of course. The LAPDyD database has 183 languages which are classified as having
no stress. The list of these is attached. You can check out most of these by logging in to LAPSyD (http://www.lapsyd.ddl.cnrs.fr/index.php)
and go to the references cited as sources. The list of languages concerned is in the attached word file. There are 284 languages listed
as having a ‘minor’ role for stress — this is usually when there is perceptible prominence which has a predictable location — and 171
languages with a lexical (contrastive) function for stress. So ‘no stress’ is more frequent in this sample than contrastive stress, but
the most common pattern is for stress to fall at a predictable location.

Ian


> On Oct 17, 2019, at 07:44, TALLMAN Adam <Adam.TALLMAN at cnrs.fr> wrote:
> 
> Hey all,
> 
> This is just a query for sources.
> 
> I'm looking for languages that have been explicitly described as having no word-level stress. I was under the impression that this was fairly common, but apparently the existence of such languages (e.g. French) is controversial [?]. 
> 
> To be clear, I mean stress in Hyman's sense of a single culminative and obligatory marking of prominence. 
> 
> (After that, I'm wondering whether there have been cases of languages that are described as containing neither word-level nor phrase-level stress in the same sense).
> 
> best,
> 
> Adam 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Adam James Ross Tallman (PhD, UT Austin)
> ELDP-SOAS -- Postdoctorante
> CNRS -- Dynamique Du Langage (UMR 5596)
> Bureau 207, 14 av. Berthelot, Lyon (07)
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Ian Maddieson

Department of Linguistics
University of New Mexico
MSC03-2130
Albuquerque NM 87131-0001



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